Class of 2022...how you doin'?

Veterinary Science Graduate Programs from U. of I.
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MixedAnimals77 said:
So I got bored the other day and put my stuff up on AVMA job board-because why not right? I didn't think anything too serious of it especially being so far out from graduation. I got a ton of emails, texts, and phone calls initially. Only a few actually fit my criteria because apparently most places just blast applicants and don't bother to read geographical or species interest. Regardless, I sent a few applications out to a couple places back home earlier this week since I had some down time before clinics get crazy. As a result I have 5 clinics that I am in the process of talking to: 1 phone interview, and 4 tentative visits for when I go back home later this year. It's a weird thing to basically be sought after and barely trying especially so far out from graduation 😳 The job market is HOT y'all.

PS it's way too early for all of this to be happening. I am in shock and don't understand how I have gotten to this place in life. 😬
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Oh yeah, they'll bombard you. Keep in mind if you update anything it will trigger another wave. Because I sort of forgot that would happen and just wanted to update my resume and... oof. It is overwhelming initially.

My favorites though was where they made it clear they read my interests by referencing them but were *still* sending me an offer that was not even remotely what I was looking for.
 
Found a job within a month when I started seriously looking with basically everything I wanted. Don't be afraid to look around and "settle" if it doesn't look good. The first place I talked to in person was a hard no by the end of the interview.
 
battie said:
Found a job within a month when I started seriously looking with basically everything I wanted. Don't be afraid to look around and "settle" if it doesn't look good. The first place I talked to in person was a hard no by the end of the interview.
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Did you find that a lot of places are okay with doing Zoom/video interviews? I'm nervous that I won't be able to travel to each place for in-person interviews due to rotations. I do have some time blocked off but it's in October (just the way my schedule ended up) and so that may be a bit early for some places. Or maybe not since it seems like I could probably go ahead and apply now 😅
 
brgdo1994 said:
Did you find that a lot of places are okay with doing Zoom/video interviews? I'm nervous that I won't be able to travel to each place for in-person interviews due to rotations. I do have some time blocked off but it's in October (just the way my schedule ended up) and so that may be a bit early for some places. Or maybe not since it seems like I could probably go ahead and apply now 😅
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October is definitely not too early. A couple people in my class already have jobs lined up 😳
It’s also not too late to look in October either. Some people don’t really start looking until after navle/navle results and are fine finding jobs
 
brgdo1994 said:
Did you find that a lot of places are okay with doing Zoom/video interviews? I'm nervous that I won't be able to travel to each place for in-person interviews due to rotations. I do have some time blocked off but it's in October (just the way my schedule ended up) and so that may be a bit early for some places. Or maybe not since it seems like I could probably go ahead and apply now 😅
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ISU grad here. Some rotations are more understanding than others, especially if you can let your clinicians know about it before the rotation even starts. Radiology allowed me to go to an in-person interview during the week, but made me come in during one of my vacation blocks to make up the half day. LA Field Services let me do a preliminary phone interview at the dairy barn in the vet office while everyone else on the rotation was doing what we were supposed to be doing and didn't care about me missing the time. You can also switch on call stuff sometimes to get a weekend away.

Most employers will work with your schedule. And if they're jerks about it, then obviously you don't want to work there. I strongly recommend visiting a place in person before accepting a job.
 
genny said:
ISU grad here. Some rotations are more understanding than others, especially if you can let your clinicians know about it before the rotation even starts. Radiology allowed me to go to an in-person interview during the week, but made me come in during one of my vacation blocks to make up the half day. LA Field Services let me do a preliminary phone interview at the dairy barn in the vet office while everyone else on the rotation was doing what we were supposed to be doing and didn't care about me missing the time. You can also switch on call stuff sometimes to get a weekend away.

Most employers will work with your schedule. And if they're jerks about it, then obviously you don't want to work there. I strongly recommend visiting a place in person before accepting a job.
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My main concern is that I will be going back to FL to practice so I can't really take a half day or even a full day for an in-person interview. I'm hoping that I'll be able to schedule most of them during my off blocks in October/Nov, because I agree--I would definitely need to visit the practice before accepting the position! Thank you for your insight!
 
Well over half done my first rotation and I’m really loving clinics so far. Though I did log 98 hours in the teaching hospital Monday-Sunday last week 😂

This rotation is making me sway back more towards ECC as a career. The cases I’ve been enjoying most have been the extremely critical ICU patients. And I just feel very comfortable in the ICU environment.

Ugh. I hope one day the IM vs ECC choice becomes simple. Every single time I work in each department I change my mind again.
 
TheGirlWithTheFernTattoo said:
Well over half done my first rotation and I’m really loving clinics so far. Though I did log 98 hours in the teaching hospital Monday-Sunday last week 😂

This rotation is making me sway back more towards ECC as a career. The cases I’ve been enjoying most have been the extremely critical ICU patients. And I just feel very comfortable in the ICU environment.

Ugh. I hope one day the IM vs ECC choice becomes simple. Every single time I work in each department I change my mind again.
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We start Thursday and students historically log 80+ hours/week in the hospital. I start in small animal internal med and it's got a reputation for being cray cray, especially having it first......I'm not scared 😂

As for the specialty dilemma, you can always become double boarded 😉
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
They expect me to start being an adult tomorrow. I am not ready. :hilarious:
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Update: It's like not knowing how to swim and them throwing you in a lake, they do give you a floatie...only it's 50 yards away.

All things considered tons of hand holding. Just very chaotic and a lot of not knowing what to do. Paperwork finally tentatively done and I only have to be back in 8 hours 😴
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
Update: It's like not knowing how to swim and them throwing you in a lake, they do give you a floatie...only it's 50 yards away.

All things considered tons of hand holding. Just very chaotic and a lot of not knowing what to do. Paperwork finally tentatively done and I only have to be back in 8 hours 😴
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Yep never did reach that floatie in the last 2 days.....pulled 30 hours in the hospital between Thursday and Friday. So I'd say things are going well :dead:
 
brgdo1994 said:
Yep never did reach that floatie in the last 2 days.....pulled 30 hours in the hospital between Thursday and Friday. So I'd say things are going well :dead:
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Oof.

I clocked just under 100 hours in the teaching hospital the first week of the rotation I just finished. I feel you!
 
Good luck guys!! Sharing a post from one of my friends who graduated the year before I did. I always found it inspiring/motivating when things got hard. You've all got this :biglove:

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I made it through week 1 of INTERNAL! It's a wierd feeling but as much paperwork and after hrs pt care as there is on this rotation the residents and faculty are awesome it's not the terrifying beast I thought I was in for and is actually enjoyable? Still definitely don't know enough to be an adult dr yet though.
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
I made it through week 1 of INTERNAL! It's a wierd feeling but as much paperwork and after hrs pt care as there is on this rotation the residents and faculty are awesome it's not the terrifying beast I thought I was in for and is actually enjoyable? Still definitely don't know enough to be an adult dr yet though.
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I really enjoyed taking internal medicine as my first rotation. Hard but you hit the ground running and it touches on so many of the other specialties that I found it really helpful for the rest of my rotations. Good stuff.
 
Yeah, just enjoy as much as you can and learn from each other's cases. Make sure to help out classmates and in general try to keep a positive attitude. Train your brain to turn negatives into positives to stay sane! You guys iz smart, iz beautiful, and iz so close to being done!!!
 
SnowJ said:
I teared up a little leaving my externship (I've been shadowing there for a while, so it seemed a natural place to start my 4th year). I can't believe the next time I see them all, I'll be a doctor!
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One of my friends has been on externships for the past 3 weeks (and still has 1 more week) and she is already dreading the thought of coming to the vth and having to deal with regular clinics rotations.
 
SkiOtter said:
One of my friends has been on externships for the past 3 weeks (and still has 1 more week) and she is already dreading the thought of coming to the vth and having to deal with regular clinics rotations.
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Waiting until the very end for my externships was frustrating, but ultimately I was very glad I didn't have go back to the teaching hospital afterwards. :laugh:
 
Doctor-S said:
I'm human doc at an AMC ... and we're always insanely busy (with or without covid patients) ...so I was wondering *why* many vetties don't want to return to their VMTH - is it because of covid restrictions? Just curious, that's all.
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I don't mind my vth that much, they let us be primary on all cases we see and surgical procedures, but usually we are taking only 1-2 cases a day. So I prefer externship sites because it offers a more realistic look of what practice is like along with getting exposure to different ways docs like to do things.
 
Doctor-S said:
I'm human doc at an AMC ... and we're always insanely busy (with or without covid patients) ...so I was wondering *why* many vetties don't want to return to their VMTH - is it because of covid restrictions? Just curious, that's all.
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Paying 50k a year to be overworked, occasionally yelled at depending on the clinician, and no sleep is a 0/10 when you get a taste of the real world where you actually have a good work/life balance and generally learn more practical things clients can afford vs the “gold standard” of a teaching hospital where clients are usually already expecting to spend a couple hundred dollars just to walk in the door and are more willing to allow expensive diagnostics.
Some services here are better than others at telling you what you can do in GP if owners can’t afford to go for a specialty consult and diagnostics.
 
Doctor-S said:
I'm human doc at an AMC ... and we're always insanely busy (with or without covid patients) ...so I was wondering *why* many vetties don't want to return to their VMTH - is it because of covid restrictions? Just curious, that's all.
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The teaching hospital itself is plenty busy imo, but on most services it still only comes out to a patient or two a day per student vs the 15+ patients I was seeing a day on my externships. And as ski pointed out on externship we also learn more practical things on externships because I'm not going to be working at a specialty center. Most of my clients aren't going to want a CT for example and even if they do, I'm going to have to refer them somewhere else for that because we sure don't have one.

I'm also the only student on my externships (for the most part -- there were a couple days on my externships where someone else show up to shadow) which means I'm not competing with other students for opportunities to do and see the most interesting things. If there are opportunities for a student to do surgery on an externship all of those are mine vs I might get one (or none depending whether there's enough for every student) of those at the teaching hospital.

I don't regret the many electives I did in the teaching hospital (I actually only did 2 externships when I in theory could have done 6 -- I originally planned to do 4 but COVID changed that), but I didn't really feel like going back after being out in the "real world".
 
Doctor-S said:
I'm human doc at an AMC ... and we're always insanely busy (with or without covid patients) ...so I was wondering *why* many vetties don't want to return to their VMTH - is it because of covid restrictions? Just curious, that's all.
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For me right now the rapid changes in covid guidelines are stressing me out when it comes to how the day-to-day flow is going to work, but that's temporary.
I prefer externships in part because I get to work with the exotic species I am interested in, but I also just prefer a smaller clinic setting in general. Large hospitals and teaching hospitals tend to have a lot of staff and a lot of people moving in and out, so its a lot harder to get to know people. I've found I prefer a general practice with a smaller staff because you get to know them all and form a team you trust. Department-specific teams mitigates this some, but there's still separate reception, lab techs, anesthetists.... not to mention getting to know management and being able to approach them
 
Internal med was not the endocrine and ple play date I imagined. More like cancer central.
Also I have an extra ecc shift tomorrow followed by changing rotations and an 8pm-8am on call ecc shift. Pretty sure they're trying to kill me. One day "off" is not enough when you have to do prep work for the new rotation #notsaltyatall 🙃
 
MixedAnimals77 said:
Basically gp stuff. So vaccines, skin, random things. Today was transition and theres an extra person on the rotation so it was super chill today which I really needed.
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That’s what I was figuring!
having an extra person on transition day is SUPER nice too.
 
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Perks of being a student on your summer job:

When the techs really hate your blocked cat sedation protocol they chalk it up to “dumb student who doesn’t know better” and move on instead of giving the full hatred a doctor would have received.

I had to try really hard not to laugh when they went over the doctor to make him veto my plan because they expected him to agree with them and instead he made them follow through with what I had decided.

It ended up working quite well, which I expected it would because the protocol was the one the criticalist I worked with last summer always used and worked lovely for her. :laugh:

That being said, it was a lovely intro to clinic politics/peace, because I feel like if I came in as a doctor and insisted on it for every blocked cat I did the techs would get very bitter very fast.
 
Just gotta let them be good at their job and stand your ground when you make a decision. Sometimes just letting them know that this is a new protocol you wish to try or that it was one you've seen is well received. I've found that even though it takes extra time to give an explanation and you may feel you shouldn't have to, it gives the feel of working on the same playing field. 🙂
 
Lupin21 said:
Just gotta let them be good at their job and stand your ground when you make a decision. Sometimes just letting them know that this is a new protocol you wish to try or that it was one you've seen is well received. I've found that even though it takes extra time to give an explanation and you may feel you shouldn't have to, it gives the feel of working on the same playing field. 🙂
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This is solid advice, even when standing your ground is scary and difficult.

We had a dog come in with epistaxis the other day and needed to collect blood. The technician was upset that I asked them not to poke the jugular vein, so I took the time to explain my concerns about clotting factors/platelets and they reluctantly agreed to use a different site. Thank god I did because the PT/PTT wouldn't even read on the machine.
 
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